Ephemeral

A good way to rise above the fear of falling is to actually become comfortable with going through the act of physical falling in a regular basis in a way that you know you would not hurt yourself in falling.

Being is time and time is finite - it comes to an end with our death. 

Therefore, if we want to understand what it means to be an authentic human being, then it is essential that we constantly project our lives onto the horizon of our death -  what Martin Heidegger called "being-towards-death".

The self can only become what it truly is through the confrontation with death, by making a meaning out of our finiteness.

If our being is finite, then what it means to be human consists in grasping this finitude, in "becoming who one is".

We can then find it possible to grasp the paradox of living in relationship with other humans while facing the fact that one has to be ultimately alone with oneself

Dasein, one's individuality, one's own limited life-span, one's own being.

Heidegger intended the concept of Dasein to provide a stepping stone in the questioning of what it means to be – to have one's own being, one's own death, one's own truth

Da sein (Heidegger)

Lit: There. Being

Or more simply: Being - There

That which "you", in and of oneself without external reference or projection onto or into any other extrinsic signifiers such as language, everyday curiosity or common beliefs.

One's primal nature begins with self-awareness and ends with the snuffing out of self-awareness.

Not to be confused with mindfulness which is a state of being greatly preoccupied with a supra-awareness and reabsorption into externality.

The leap of faith into pure existence requires transcending the world of things. 

Even going beyond ultimate value systems such as

Datta, Dayadhvam, and Damyata,

giving, compassion, and self-control.

Trust that the world and one's very existence will not terminate at any point beyond the material.

Transcendence and immateriality are essential to the sense of truly being there.

This is the looked for end point in koan and other transcendental mindsets.

The ultimate goal of meditation is  the grasp of TS Eliot's  -

"the meaning and approach to the meaning, restores the experience in a 

form".

Existential anxiety is the tendency for the mind to lose sight of pure existence- to be interrupted in the ongoing process of "being there" - of being preoccupied with the thought of existence and the snuffing out of existence through fear of non-existence.

ZEN GARDEN TREATMENTS & RATES

ZEN GARDEN TREATMENTS & RATES

call: 07808 328686

email: ergodance@gmail.com

REFLEXOLOGY - 

Painless gentle manipulation of the nerve centres in the feet and hands to stimulate of all areas of the nervous system and endocrine system.

One to one only: £ 45.00 per hour

PRANAYAMA - SELF-HYPNOSIS BREATHING - 

Learning to breathe throughout the entire body and steady all thoughts, impulses, addictions and negative thoughts. Excellent for phobias, smoking, gambling, shopping, relationship addictions and nervous tension.
Through rhythmical breathing you learn the simplest of ways to meditate yourself into a quasi self-induced hypnotic state in which you can exercise vastly increased control over many of your vital functions and thought processes.

Optional Didgeridoo breathing therapy

You can learn the circular/endless breathing techniques of the Didgeridoo  as part of the Pranayama therapy.
If you would like to learn this ancient instrument involving one of the most powerful breathing techniques in the world just let us know.
(We will provide the basic 2 inch pipe/Didgeridoo starter tube to learn the basics off circular breathing)

Your own real Didgeridoo as pictured can be ordered for you and kept at Zen Garden.
Didgeridoo & individual beeswax mouthpiece £30.00

One to one practice: £ 45.00 per hour
Groups - max 4 -       £ 25.00 per hour

ZEN DANCE - 

FREE YOUR BODY THROUGH MOVING MEDITATION -

See video:

Min 1 hour sessions
One to one: £ 45.00 per hour
Groups - min 3 -max 4 - £ 25.00 each person

I CHING READINGS - 

The I Ching is the ancient Daoist system of divination (fortune telling). 
Aligning with the forces of the universe the I Ching  provides a snapshot of exactly where you are at the moment in the full flow of universal time, what is going to occur in the near and the mid future in the light of prevailing circumstances and most importantly, how your current mind set and drives affects these prevailing circumstances.

The I Ching offers an uncanny insight into the WAY of how best to align yourself with the great forces of prevailing circumstance, to benefit in the future in the most effective way.

I Ching offers the most unique insight into the well known and fundamentally understood phenomenon of synchronous/coincidental occurence (i.e.Chance/Happenstance) and how much control we actually do have and can exercise over our own destinies if only we can see, understand and align ourselves with the fundamental forces which shape us all.

One to one consultancy: £ 45.00 per hour
Couples advice session: £ 60.00 per hour




If you wish to have a combination therapy session of one and a half hours 
involving two of the above therapeutic methods, 
the cost is £60.00 per person.

Contact: 07808 328686
E mail enquiries: ergodance@gmail.com

BREATHING IS NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS

WHAT IS PRANAYAMA?

Pranayama is the study of the way in which we learn to control, strengthen and increase habitual awareness in the way in which we breathe.

Taoist pranayama is the technique  of breathing in the fullest and most efficient way and increasing awareness of  yin & yang energy.

It involves working with a cycle of breathing through the front and the back of the body.

Breathing is something we have done since we arrived here.  It is entirely forgivable why we all take breath so much for granted.

But there is no reason why we should allow this to continue to our ever increased physical disadvantage.

Breath and the drawing of oxygenated air inside us, allows our bodies to expand and contract internally.

We use the lungs to draw the outside world into our inner space.

The lungs are the place where this air first arrives and from where the blood stream absorbs the oxygen and other gases from the external atmosphere. The lungs then go about the essential work of distributing the freshly oxygenated blood to power our organs and internal physical systems with vital, life-giving air/prana/life force.

The body and especially the lungs as they fill with air, expand and contract.

These expansions allow us to feel our inner physical selves coming into contact with the external physical world.

As a very simple process, we use the simple drawing in of air through our breathing tubes  - the nose, mouth and throat –

Pranayama simply brings awareness into our lungs with the air we take in.

Through awareness of the expanding and contracting mechanisms,  the lungs themselves, we gain contact and increase awareness in the rest of our internal organs.

Pranayama Breathing is a way in which we not only become aware of the way we are using the lungs, but also the directions in which we can then direct the air and life force inside our bodies around other parts of the body using the consciousness we bring in with the air.

As science has demonstrated, electrical polarities, magnetism, even north and south poles merely describe a spectrum of polarities.

There is no actual “end” to polarity any more than there is an end to an ocean, other than a shore. However the  shore  is inevitably only a temporary break, past which,  if we continue for long enough in the direction of the initial flow,  so we would reach another ocean.

Thus it is with duality of polarity.

Pranayama Breathing simply describes a means by which we allow air to enter our bodies, be conducted infinitely around inside us and passed on and out towards the next stage without reaching an end, a polar finite point or cessation of anything. In other worlds it pushes out towards the infinite in everything.

If we don’t think about breathing at all, we still breath.

If we don’t think about breathing at all, however, we will also not be aware of hamlet’s “ thousand little shocks which flesh is heir to”.

These little shocks and constant interruptions break up  our breathing processes and disallow our breath, our bodies, the awareness and our fullest physical functions to be connected and continuous.

If we discontinue breath for long enough we die.

If we discontinue our breath just a little bit, we die a little bit.

We all die sometime.

What we should not do is allow ourselves voluntarily to die prematurely - simply because of an habitual simple lack of breath.

Pranayama cannot be guaranteed to prolong life, although intuitively, the better we breathe, the longer we will live.

And if not longer – then with far greater quality of calmness, mindful awareness and inner strength while we are living.

Pranayama is taking ownership of the process of breathing.

It is practicing how to calm oneself sufficiently to resist the catching, holding and cessation of the breath.

It is gradually to habituate ourselves to stay in touch and become ever more in contact with our internal organs and their various but interconnected functions.

The front of the body is yang.

It goes forward.

It drives.

It presents to the world

As we breath in it expands – it goes out to the world

The back of the body is yin -  the dark side

The area of the body that our major senses cannot see, touch easily, smell or actually be aware of all the time.

It hides from the world.

As we breath out it returns our awareness to the basis of everything and fulfils the laws of all gravitational impulses.

Pranayama simply provides techniques to give us complete choice whether we use  purely yang breath for power and strength, purely yin breath for calmness, and gentle awareness or tell our breathing mechanism to mix the two and redirect it around the rest of our bodies to fill them with clear, pure energies.

The only difficulty in breathing is remembering to over-ride a lifetime of habits in which we have been unaware of the strength, power and potential contained within the way we breathe.

This ability is contained in the simplest of exercises.

This is pranayama.

Universal energies and YOU

There is no secret to long and happy life.

You are allowed to manifest in the best and most effective way you can.

We are all different and competition to be the same or "better: than another soul is both a huge waste of your psychic and emotional energy and also puts you immediately at odds with the universe as it is unfolding - now.

It is probably not a good idea to fight the universe. 
Even with our current slightly primitive means of seeing into the nature of the universe, all evidence  tells us emphatically that it is an infinite, infinitely powerful, utterly mysterious entity and not to be trifled with.

Get alongside universal forces, allow them to permeate and support your mindset, your body and your view of the world and the manifest  things in it. Wallow in the fundamental forces of energy, gravity, movement, breath and awareness.

It will be astounding how quickly the universal forces will be accessible to you, to utilise, and benefit from.

With respect and love for that which IS, with gentleness and acceptance of that which WILL BE and with a genuine sense of awe, thrill and wonderment that you are really at the centre of ALL THAT CAN BE.

YOU are  as important and fundamental to the workings of the universe as the Big Bang, Black Holes and atomic energy.

Purify the energy inside you,  the energies around you will shine and things shall be well.

namaste

Get Real

 

John Daido Loori, Roshi

1931-2009 

"Learn only to be content"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uttdg3GgtHo


If what our reality us
Is not the same as what our appearance is,
Then we are not yet practising.
We are not yet doing religious practice.

The who we really are
And what we appear to be, should be the same.

If it's not, it's deluded, it's mixed up.
It's a mask, it's where we hide.

Somehow that has a lot to do with
Not being satisfied with who we are.
Somehow being convinced by somewhere, somehow, sometime,
That we're inadequate, that we don't quite make it.

And so we try to be something else, we try to be
What they think we should be.
Or what our parents think we should be,
Or what our goverment thinks we should be,
Or what our profession or job thinks we should be.

So we need to get to that place of who we really are, trust it.
That's all Genjo koan is all about.

Its what our practice is about.
It's like - get real - it really means that.
Get real.

There's nothing to hide,
It's not necessary to hide.
And there's not a single one of us
Who falls short of our own completeness.

And if you really understand that, trust that,
Then the charade is over.
Our life manifests without effort.
That's what the enlightened life is,

Really being yourself.

That's what Genjo koan is,
That's what The Buddha is,
You know, it's not some -
 - I mean we use the words - 
Sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha.
I guess people -  maybe they think
That's what he looked like.

A sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha,
Is a very ordinary person.
Was born, lived, taught, died,
Felt pain, practiced, just like you
And just like me,
Sixteen foot golden body of The Buddha.